


Hospital Bed

by Newhieghts



Category: Cube (1997 2002 2004)
Genre: Gen, Hospitals, Leaven and Worth Survive, Leaven is a lesbian i said so, could feasibly be considered character introspection but not rlly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23190393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Newhieghts/pseuds/Newhieghts
Summary: This is just a silly little piece I wrote in an AU where worth and leaven survive there's no deeper meaning and probably ooc but alss
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	Hospital Bed

“If it’s not too much Worth, I don’t ever want to see you again.”

Joan Catherine Leaven -- Worth checked the clipboard at the bottom of her bed -- has a chest full of white bandages and a black look in her eyes. She wears a blue hospital gown, as Worth does and it’s the most unflattering thing he’s ever worn. 

Even if his typical wardrobe consisted of dirty t-shirts and worn jeans. At least, he tries to look on the bright side, this shapeless thing is clean. He’s been attempting -- and that's the key word -- to be a little more positive on the subject of his life since being dragged from a real life Rubix Cube and had his stomach sutured. 

He probably shouldn't be walking just yet, but he knew Leaven was due to be discharged soon. 

And this is what he gets.

“I don’t ever want to think about this again. I don’t want to think about Rennes or Holloway, or-- fuck, especially Quentin.” She glances down at the bandages under her clothes. “They say I’m going to have a scar.”

“Me too.” His voice is hoarse from disuse, or it’s hoarse from screaming. He doesn't remember which one is the truth. He doesn't know anything about the truth any more. 

“Why are you here?” She’s only 22. She can barely drink, Worth thinks. She’s barely lived. She will, though. She will now that they’ve had a miracle. “Shouldn’t you be on trial for murder?” She asks quiet enough to not alert the milling nurses. 

“Nobody knows that, Joan-- can I call you Joan?” she nods quickly. “We were the only ones who got out. Whatever we say is the truth.”

“Kazan got out,” Leaven protests. “He could tell them what you did. He could tell everything and- and then what? What happens to us?”

22 is practically a child, he thinks. She sure sounds like one anyway. Timid and squeaky and small. Joan Leaven; little mouse. 

David Worth; professional nobody. At least Leaven has attributes.

“I mean. No offence to Kazan but, one; he doesn't have the mental capacity to tattle on us. Two; if he did, who would believe him? He’s a retard.”

“Here I thought…” Leaven murmurs. “I thought the Cube changed us. Maybe it was only me who realised that I had to be better to survive.”

“Oh, don’t you get high and mighty on me! What good was realising you were a spoilt brat when Quentin was stabbing you with a door handle? What good was your change of heart when it was pierced with metal?”

Maybe Leaven is right. The Cube changed him, just not for the better. Just made him feel things; things like anger and sadness and all that contempt was amplified. Nothing good came of the Cube, except for the money the shell put in his pocket. 

“You’re such a bastard, Worth.” Leaven throws the bed sheets up and tucks her feet under it. She turns to her side and doesn't speak. Worth watches her vitals beep a spiky line. 

He doesn't need to state the obvious and agree. 

“Kazan saved our lives. He… He understood the Cube. In the end, I was useless. We were all useless except for Kazan, don’t you see that?” She still faces away from him, preaching to the pillows.

“You’re beginning to sound like me, kid.”

“Shoot me now.”

Worth tries to laugh. He’d probably cough up blood if he actually did. He can’t remember the last time he laughed. Not properly, at least. He probably descended into hysterics in the Cube at some point. It’s all a big blur of Hell with a capital h. 

“Do you think we survived for a reason?”

“No.” What part of trying to be positive didn't he understand? “I think we got damn lucky.”

“Do you think the others died for a reason?”

“Same answer as before.” He sits at the foot of the bed and Leaven curls her feet closer to her. To make room for Worth or to avoid him, Worth doesn't know and doesn't care to know. “Aren’t you a math major? Quit it with the philosophy.”

“I just want some sense. I don’t know if equations can give me that anymore. I want to know, Worth. All I’ve ever wanted is to know absolutely everything. Nowll, I think somethings will always be a mystery.”

That's a tall order he thinks. He also thinks that Leaven will know absolutely everything. That girl was the closest he had to god in the Cube with her numbers and splinted stare. He wants to say all these things and express some sort of twisted gratitude that they met and she helped him but all that comes out is;  
“Shut up, Leaven.” 

“I don’t know why I bother with you.”

“That, we can agree on.”

“Go to therapy, Worth.”

“Only if you do.” 

Leaven shoots him a glare. She looks like she’s about to say something, but her stare softens and shifts to the window. 

“Alice…” she murmurs. Worth follows her eyes to see a girl, Leaven’s age, waving at her. 

“Is that your sister?”

“That’s my girlfriend,” Leaven snaps with burning cheeks. “Don’t you have people who visit you?”

No.

“No.”

Leaven offers him a sad, sorry look and smile. “Go to group therapy, Worth. Get a friend while you’re at it.”

“Ha. Yeah. Everybody is queuing up for a piece of David Worth, ideal man.”

“I’ve seen worse,” Leaven murmurs her confession. Though, Leaven is Leaven. He’ll take her thoughts with a grain of salt. “Take it easy, Worth. You deserve good things.”

He nods. “Right. Yeah.”

“You’re impossible.”

He nods again. 

“My parents will be here soon. I don’t think you should be here when they do. I haven’t told them the truth. I haven’t told them about you.” 

Yeah, well, why would she? 

She wants to forget all about this, and Worth isn’t special enough to override that desire. Worth isn’t worth any desire. Worth is worthless. 

He’s something of a comedian. 

He glances back to Alice, making not so subtle eyes at Leaven. She’s itching to come in, he’s sure. There are people, and there are many people, who care about Leaven. Queuing outside the door to talk and listen and worry and love her. Leaven probably has people she doesn’t know queing for her. 

David Worth had a doctor who looked like he wanted to go home. 

There is someone for everyone, and Leaven has taken more than her fair share. She’s left no one for Worth. He can hardly blame her. He doesn’t make it easy. 

He sighs. “Alright. I just wanted to check in. Say goodbye.” 

He hauls himself up and gestures to himself. “This is me; saying goodbye.”

Leaven smiles.

“Goodbye, Joan Leaven.”

“See you around, David Worth.” And waves him off, that child emerging in her again. 

Boundless human stupidity. 

Yeah, he thinks, as he pushes the door open and nods to Alice. He watches her rush in and take Leaven’s hands. 

There is someone for everyone. 

He could live with that.


End file.
